Method of and means for preparing and holding electrotype-plates.



No. 851,049. PATENTED APR. 23, 1907. H. A. w. WOOD.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR PREPARING AND HOLDING ELEGTROTYPE PLATES. A

APPLICATION FILED JAN.7, 1893. RENEWED AUG. 14. 1905 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E0.,s51.049. PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

H, A. w. WOOD. METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR PREPARING A-ND HOLDING BLEOTROTYPE PLATES. APPLIOATI'ON FILED JAN. 7, 1893. RENEWED AUG. 14. 1905;

3 SHEETSSHBET 2.

@(J' I (R'- (CL 63%). W007), 5 @54 5 (mom No. 851.049. "PATENTED-APR. 23, 1907.

H. A. W. WOOD.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR PREPARING AND HOLDING ELEGTROTYPE PLATES.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 7, 1893. RENEWED AUG. 14, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrion f HENRY A. WISE WOOD, OF NEW YORK, Y.,;AssisNoR To THECAMPBELL PRINTING PRESS & MANUFACTURING COMB-ANY, or NE YORK, N. Y.,

'A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR PREPARING lliTLDllllG.ILECTROTYPi-PLATES:

Specification 5f Letters Patent.

latented April 23.1907.

Application filed January 7. 1s9s. Renewed August s, it seen 110. 274.241.

To all w/wm it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A.- VVISE W001),

a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Xew York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of and Means for Preparing and Holding Electrotype-Plates, of which the following is a specification.

The aim of this invention is to provide a new and improved method of and means for preparing and holding electrotype-plates, so

that they -may be practically adapted for printing-surfaces, either with flat or curved.

printing-surface-holding members; and to this end the invention consists of the method, devices, and improvements described and claimed in this specification, and illustrated in the accompanying three sheets of drawsimilar view illustrating the plate bent so that the same may be applied to a curved printing member. showing a different form of tension-strip. Figs. 6 and 7 are further modifications, and Figs. 8, 9, and 10 illustrate the way in which elctrotype-plates prepared after my method may be applied to curved printing-surfaces or to printing-cylinders.

The way electrotype-plates are made and prepared for printing is as follows; The type or cuts from which it is desired to print are set up in the usual manner. From the type or cuts a wax impression is taken. This wax impression is then coated with graphite or'some other similar conductor of electricity, and the wax is. then copper-plated by the usual electrotype-plating apparatus. The Wax is then melted awayl'rom the copperplate, and the copper shell thus formed constitutes the printing-surface. This cop-f per plate is very delicate and'thin and could not of itself be manipulated or used to print without some suitable backing or clamping means. The usualway of backing those copper shells is to tin or otherwise suitably prepare the back of the same, and then Fig. 5 is a modification l r l to cast on the plate a suitable backing, which may be made out of typeor stereotype metal." This way of preparingelectrotypeplatcsiswell. known and is often practiced. 7 It iswelll known in the art that the present methods adapting electrotype-plates to use upon rotary presses in which are curvedplate cylinders are very crude and unsatisfactory and that itis impossible to produce the same result from the curved plates now used that i is obtainable from a duplicate The object of this my. present invention is to so construct an electrotype-plate and l to so manipulate the same that the 'now existing diiliculties will be overcome and the prejudice to the. use of curved electrotypeplates removed.

It is unnecessary to dwell upon the fact 1 that the curved printing-surface of a rotary press ofl'ers infinitely greater speed than is possible upon any known form of fiat printmfg-surface press.

The (lilliculties using the ordinary clectrotype-plate as a printing-surface may be classified as follows;

First. There is no practicable method now;

in use by which an electrotype-plate may be bent to .fit a curved printing member without placing its printing-surface, under pressure, wherebythe surface will be marred orthat are encountered in disfigured, and whereby the plate will stretchi in, the; bending operation so that the printingsurfaoewillbe distorted, and the plate will; than the form from which be longer one way it was. made.

Second. Electrotypeplates" as .now made" i v and adapted to curved surfaces are incapable of being unbent and adapted to flat surfaces withou't great injury to the printing surface.

An electrotype-plate. which has been curved cannotthereafter'be usedexcepton a cylin.. der. under ,the, present practice. Further, :electrotype ep lates underthe presentpra'ctice if used-on flat printing-presses have:

their margins VIGIIIOVGCLL If a platehaving 1*? its margin removed, and thereby adapted for flat printing, should be bent, the. outer edges ofv the printing-surfaces would be spoiled, for the bending rocess necessarily .will tear or' distort the e geof: the type-plate which was left, exposed by the removal of the margins.

to curved surfaces are of necessity thick and Therefore plates which under the ordinary practice have been once adapted for fiat-bed presses are of no practical use in connection with rotary or curved-plate-surface presses, and vice versa.

Third. Electrotype-plates as now constructed are secured on their cylinders by edge-compressing clamps. Thus after a time the plates become rolled out or stretch, and the plates buckle and lose their curvature.

Fourth. Electrotype-plates as now adapted are therefore not sensitive to the process of underlaying, and thereby much of their value as to the printing of illustrations is lost.

Fifth. Electrotype-plates as now constructed are incapable of singly occupying more than one-half of the circumference of their.supporting-cylinders. Therefore it is impossible, no matter how desirable it may be, to print from an electrotype with a rtary press a continuous design of greater length than half the said circumference.

My method consists, preferably, of inter.

posing astraining or tension strip, which may be made in various forms, as hereafter described, in the mold in which the copper plate-is backed, so that as the backing metal is cast onto the copper plate the straining or tension strip or strips will be formed or made to constitute 2. art of the finished plate. Further, in backing the plate I use a very small quantity of the backing metal, so that the plate will be very thinsay, one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness altogether-so that the plate will be flexible and can be flexed, preferably by hand. The plate can be then finished in the usual manner and the strip used to tightly hold the same to the printing base. I preferably use for this straining or tension strip a strong steel flexible strip, forated, so that the metal can unite through the same, whereby the strip will be most strongly embedded in the. printing plate.

Thusit will be seen that my complete plate consists of the copper shell and a backmg which is composed of two or more materials, one of which, as'the' strip, will prevent'the plate from stretching or warping as the same is manipulated, as the steel strip itself cannot and will not stretch.

A plate constructed by my method overcomes the first of the above difficulties, as the plate being so thin and having a flexible stri embedded therein may be bent by hand to t the curved surface, and having only a slight backing the printing face will not be strained by the bending operationv The second objection is overcome by reason that I may use the steel strip both to fasten the electrotype-plate to a'curved. print-,

ing member or to a flat printing member, and

and this strip is preferably per-- or copper sur if the plate is fastenedfirst to a curved printing member the same can afterward be easily unbent and fastened to a flat printing member, and vice versa.

The third objection or difficulty before noted is overcome by reason of the fact that a plate made after my method can be secured 1n place by end strain.

The fourth difficulty before noted is overcome by reason of the fact that the plate made by my method is very thin and will therefore be sensitive to underlaying.

The fifth difficulty before noted is overcome by reason of the fact that an electrotype-plate may be made by my method of sufficient length and be wrapped entirely around the periphery of a printin -cylinder, wherebya continuous design can be printed by a printin -cylinder,- and this is very useful in some 0 asses of work-as, for example, in map work. 1

Thus plates prepared by my method can be bent b hand to fit curved printing members, can lie unbent by hand, can be secured by end' strain on the printing members, are sensitive to the process of underlaying, can be adapted both for use upon curved or flat printing members, and can be wrapped entirely around a printing-cylinder. These advantages render a plate prepared after my method very useful in establishments where there are flat-bed and rotary presses,. on which it is desired to use lates interchangeably and where it is desired to nicely hold the plate on a' curved. printing member, and

by the process of underlaying, and where it is desired to print a continuous design.

Referring now to the drawings, my method will be first described.

In-Fig. 1, A represents the usual backingtrough, and in this trough the cop er plate B prepared in the manner before escribed is ai with the type-face down, as shown. Then. the steel strip C is arranged above the same and securely held. This strip 0 is preferably arranged a slight distance above the copper plate B, so that the backing metal can adhere to the entire surface of the copper plate.

holes '10 formed therein so that the metal can unite through the same. With a mold repared in this manner backing metal, as is oured in on to of the strip C. This back- Lflg metal D will flow through the holes 10 of the strip C and will unite to the copper plate B and the steel strip C will be strongly embedded in the backing metal. The complete plate is then removed from the mold andis finished and dressed .in any of the usual manners. One convenient way for en porting the metal strip above the copper p ate is to simply embed the ends of the same in the sand E of the mold, .as'shown. The strip C may have holes, as 11, in the ends thereof,

where it is desired to obtain nice printing, as-

This strip C has suitable whereby the whole plate can be securely strained in place on the printing member, or the ends of the strips may be bent, as at 12, to form a hook by which the same can be secured in place. The plate prepared in this manner is preferably made th nenough so that the same can be bent by hand to fit a curved surface, although, broadly speaking, it is not necessary, so far as the scope of my invention is concerned, to make the plate any thinner than in the common practice.

In Fig. 3 the plate is shown flat as adapted for flat printing, and in Fig. 4 the plate is shown as bent to fit the periphery of a curved printing member.

Instead of using one steel strip C, I may use a number of steel strips, as F, and these used for the purpose of clamping the plate in place, and, if desired, the wires G may have small notches or projections 9 whereby they will stay in place in the plate.

In Fig. 7 instead of using wires I have used a strip of strong wire-netting,as H, and on the ends of this wire-netting l have arranged similar pieces g, as in the previous device. These stri s, Wires or netting, as the case may be, w uld be set in the printing-plate by I the method before described.

Plates prepared in this manner can be very easily and readily applied to printingsupports, and the way in which the-printing-' plates'could be applied to curved printing supports is shown in the third sheet of the drawings.

In Fig. 8 the steel strips C are shown as having the bends 12, before referred to, and

- may be moved by screws N to strain the plates to the cylinder. This jawhas'a projection 21, which is adapted to catch into the end of one of the strips,-as shown, and on the other end of the recess is formed a similar projectio1r20, which is also arranged to catch mto one of the bent ends of the steel strips.

Instead f using interlocking ends the strips could haveholes, as before described,

in one end thereof, and rivets or clasps could be arranged to interlock into these holes, as shown at 22 in Fig. 9.

In Fig. 10 I have shown a device arranged substantially as in Fig. 9, except that the periphery of the cylinder is not entirely covered with printing-plates and that a method can be secured to printing-surfaces by end strain. The printing-plates would be secured in substantially the same manner to fiat printing-surfaces.

If desired, a plate could be prepared after my method so that the same would entirely fit the periphery of the printing-cylinder to form a long design, and this construction is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8? By this way of arranging the flexible plate upon the periphery of the curved printing member a sheet can be'printed of a length substantially equal to the circumference of the printing member. If the cylinder thus .prepared is used in connection with a web, the mechanism will allow for the margin between successive imprints.

Electrotype plates prepared. by this method can be very speedily arranged for use and can bemost strongly and securely held in place, as practically no extra step has to be taken, the strip simply bein inserted while the usual or old methods are eing carried out.

I have shown means whereby the plates prepared in this manner can be applied to' printing members simply to illustrate the way in which my invention is carried out; but as I do not claim in this case any specific means for elampingthe plates in place I do not wish to be limited in any sense to anyspecific clamping mechanism.

Aplurality of these blank strips may ICC Where I use the term strip I mean to the backinglmetal can unite with the entire surface of t e cop'perjplate. This is the pre- Patent, is-

1. The method ,of preparing composite. electrotype printing-plates, which consists in embodying a straining-strip therein during the process of casting the back on the plates.

2.- The method of preparing composite electrotype printing-plates, which consists in making a straining-strip integral with the plate.

3. The. method of preparing composite electrotype printing-plates, which cons1stsin casting a separate straining-strip in the back- 111 v 4. The method of. preparin composite electrotype printing-plates, whic .consists in casting a straining-strip in the backing with the edges of the strip projecting beyond the edges of the-plate. v a

5. The method of reparing electrotypeplates which consists in placing in the backing-mold, a straining-strip, and then pouring the backing metal into the mold, so that thebacking metal will unite with the electrotypeplate, and so that the straining-strip will be firmly embedded in the complete late.

6. The method of preparing e ectrotype plates which consists in holding a strainingstrip slightly above the back of the copper printing-plate-in the backing-mold, and t en pouring the backing metal into the mold,

whereby the backing metal will unite with the entire surface of the printing-plate, and whereby the straining-strip Wlll be firmly embedded in the backing metal.

7. The method of preparing electrotype mg 8. A printing-plate consisting of an electro- I 7 type printing-surface, a backing metal cast upon the same, and a straining or clamping strip embedded in said backing metal.

9. A printing-plate consisting of an electrotype printing-surface, a backing metal cast upon said printing-surface, and a strainingstrip embedded in said backing metal, and

having holes, so that thebacking metal can unite through said strip.

10. A printing-plate consisting of an electrotype printing-surface, a backing metal cast upon the same, and a straining or clamping strip of substantially the same width as the printing-plate embedded therein, and having holes so that the backing metal can unite through the same.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnessesl H. A. WISE WOOD.

Witnesses:

LOUIS W. SOUTHGATE, OGDEN BRoMER. 

